Return of Max Payne
by Darkeye
Summary: Just as Max thought he had won his freedom, he found himself battling a whole new even deadlier menace
1. Default Chapter

The Return of Payne  
  
RATED R FOR VIOLENCE AND LANGUAGE  
  
The calming blizzard shed its last flakes outside the station, but as the storm outside wavered an even heavier one brewed inside the interrogation room.  
"So, let me get this straight Payne,"Said chief Bravura in a harsh voice, "You trying to tell me that not only did you not shoot agent Baldur, and agent B.."  
"I never said I didn't shoot B.B"  
"Oh thats right, he was a bent cop all along and to top it all off you are in fact a DEA agent, c'mon Payne, this has gone on far enough it's been three days since we picked you up."  
Max leaned back on his interrogation room chair. It had been three days, three days since since he had avenged his family, three days since the end of the Valkyr chrises, three days since he had won his war against crime. He felt some regret over the friends he had lost, Mona and Alex, they had never found Mona's body he did keep some hope that she was still alive. It's finally over, he thought to himself.  
"Look, what I don't know, is why you Max Payne, one of the worlds most feared...criminals for want of a better word gave it all up just take out your old gang...and the aesir corp while we're on the subject."  
"Had no choice, my cover was blown, and without Alex I had no contacts left in the DEA, as for Aesir, well they were the behind the Punchinello family and Valkyr for that matter."  
"Lucky for you they some old documents in Aesir HQ to back you up, now all we've got against you is the shooting of two DEA agents, but the thing that puzzles me most is why Senator Woden has been backing your DEA story and trying to get you released."  
"Nice guy I guess" Max smiled as he said that, there was a very good reason for the senator to help, lying in his personal pessions locker.   
"Yeah whatever, we'll continue this discourse in the morning, Jenkins please escort Mr Payne to his cell"  
A young officer grabbed Max by his hand and took him to the cell. Max had been in them quite often. When he first began his undercover assignment he was required to pull off various jobs for the mob, sometimes he'd dilberately get arrested to avoid them. He had a pretty decent sleep that night. His dreams were mainly about the desctruction of the Aesir corporation. He was awakened in the early hours of the morning and escorted again to the all too familiar iterrogation room. Bravura entered with a positively stunned expression on his face.  
"Morning Jim, have a rough night?"   
"Last night, Jenkins and were going through agent Baldurs files, trying to make sense of it and we found a journal, he had been logging virtually every day of his life for the past six years in it, according to this log, everything you've said is true, from you joining to the DEA to going undercover the last article was that he had just recieved a call to meet you at central station from BB. He also had kept a copy of your file from the before you joined the DEA. we checked it through the computer a hundred times this file is accurate. In addition, we also checked BBs file, turns out he had been receiving payments from the Aesir corporation over a period of time. So effectively, you are one hundred percent innocent"  
Max smiled, good old Alex had bailed him out again.   
"This effectively is more than enought evidence we need to release you and I've got more good news" continued Bravura, "According to your file, you are still a member of the DEA, in other words, you got youu old job back."  
"Now, that the Valkyr thing is cracked the DEA has no more use to me. I think I'll transfer, maybe back to the NYPD."  
"Wouldn't mind having, someone of your talents on the force, detective. Try not to go on a killing spree against gangsters this time."  
"You attitude to me seems to have changed Jim."  
"Yeah, that happens when you find someones innocent."  
"I always thought you were innocent" spouted Jenkins  
"Well I'm glad thats cleared up, but one more thing Jim, the Valkyr"  
"Almost completely off the streets, thanks to you that is.  
"Well thats good, now if you'll excuse me I think I need see if the DEA offers cumulative. vacation days."  
Both Bravura and Jenkins laughed at that statement. Jenkins offered to take Max to his home. Max was not completely looking forward to going there, too many bad memories about the family he once had. The three of them stepped into the parking lot and walked towards Jenkins' squad car. Their was a black sedan parked against the wall of the building.  
"Why do those undercover cops insist on parking on station property, I don't even recognise that one, boy is that guy going to get it." Max looked at the car and suddenly recognised it, he quickly grabbed Jim.  
"Get a bomb squad around to that car now."  
"What?"  
"Black sedans are the trademark cars used for car bombings by the Punchinellos, They'd park a car outside a rival gangs building, blow it up and when it did they attack." Bravura grabbed his walkie talkie and summoned a bomb squad to the scene. The bomb squad surrounded the car but it was too late. A gargantuan bang was heard as the bomb detonated in the car park. Immediately afterwards, two black vans smashed through the gate and gunmen charged towards the entrance. They were all dressed in the officious suits of Aesir employees and each carried a colt commando. They were repelled by an army of police who charged out the door and a vicious gun battle began to ensue. Bravura were both crouched behind a garbage dumpster from where they took shots at the gangsters. Max was crouched behind a garbage can. Fortunately for him, his liscensed berretta was returned him as were a couple of rounds of bullets. He dove to the side and fired at a nearby gangster. Three bullets struck the gangster in the chest send him flying bakcwards and prompting him to throw his gun into the air, to be caught by Max. Max took hold of the colt commando and quickly spun around spraying three gangsters with bullets. The two remaining ones, turned towards Max. Max jumped towards them firing bullets. As he did this he felt himself entering bullet time as he could see things around him moving at a slower pace. He dodged the visible bullets and kept firing. After his bullets had struck the gangsters he entered real time again. He saw the bullet riddled gangsters flying backwards at an immense speed. He dropped the gun walked over to the police officers. Bravura was getting up and nursing a wound to his arm, Jenkins was helping him. Elsewhere two officers shot dead.   
"What the bloody hell just happened?" Yelled Bravura  
"Aesir, they bloody did this, they clearly wanted to destroy the files you found. Dammit." Said an enraged Max.  
"I am going to make them pay if it takes every day of my life I will make them pay, Jenkins, see that the dead and wounded are tended to, then gather up every resource you can. Get everyone on active duty, we are going after these bastards as soon as we can." Bravura then turned to Max.  
"But I thought Aesir was destroyed, by you."  
"So did I, apparently it goes even higher than the hag."  
Max was filled with rage. In spite of all he had done it was still the same, whenever he killed a monster a bigger more powerfull just casually waltzed into it's place.  
"I am going after them" Said Max  
"Sorry Max, you are DEA, this is out of your jurisdiction" Said Bravura  
"I don't think so" Said Max, pulling out a small container with blue liquid inside a "V" insribed on the side "One of them dropped this."  
"Valkyr, but thats green"  
"This is clearly a new version, they attackers certainly had the strength of people under Valkyr, but nonetheless, retained their sanity."  
"Damn, if this drug hits the street."  
"All hell will break loose, armies of super criminals."  
"I can get you a temporary DEA ID if you want, y'know when agents lose their badges nowadays..."  
"Yeah I know, thanks Jim. I could really use that ID because I am going after each and everyone of the bastards with anything to do with Aesir."  
With that Max holtstered his beretta.He did not know who he was dealing with or where to look for them all he knew no longer was he running from the law, now he would fight Aesir, the new Valkyr and whatever else they had with every resource available but the battle would still be a hard one and the war was a long way from over.  
  
To Be Continued...  
  
Authors Notice: Please Read and Review. Also please keep in mind that this is my first fic so no heavy flames please. 


	2. Chapter 2

Authors note: The second chapter is finally up. This is more of an interlude than an actual chapter though, it does not contain as much action as the first or the others will. Due to popular demand the bullet time thing has gone, I apologise it was a stupid idea.  
  
Chapter 2  
  
The snow had been replaced by a heavy downpour of rain. Max walked into the alleyway leading to the back entrance of the bar. "Happy hours", a popular hangout for the local university students. Inside the backrooms however, Punchinellos mob ran a major drugs and gun smuggling operation. Max Payne walked to the graffited back door. The door had a primitive lock, not one Max couldn't get through. He pulled a lockpick out of his pocket and quickly unlocked it. Before entering, Max looked through the keyhole. There was not much to see, a long corridor, probably leading to the main room, with a door to the side. Max guessed that whatever he was destined to find was there.   
Max unholstered his Berretta and quickly ensured that it was loaded. He entered the corrider and strode to the door. He could hear faint voices from within. He attempted to take in what they were saying but the door was too well sound proofed. He had brought a stethoscope for a situation like this, but even with it he could only pick up faint murmers.  
"...rty grand, are you ...., V costs thirty."  
"...ieve me, ..en ..is hits the ..reets you .an rake in an easy ...dred."  
".ine, but if it don't, all .eals are off .etween us."  
The person selling the V was talking in a softer voice making harder to understand what he was saying, Max guessed that he was an Aesir employee, the other was practically yelling,in all likelihood one of the Punchinello's men, heping that there was still something to salvage from the carcass of the punchinello empire, that had once held New York in it's grip. Max kicked the door, hard. It was not particularly sturdy and flew open. His assumptions about the occupants of the room were correct.  
A lot had happened at that instant when Max entered the room. The gangsters face twisted from one of surprise from seeing the door kicked open to one of sheer terror at seeing Max Payne, the man who in only a few days had become their greatest nemesis and fear. He stood frozen in his panic. The Aesir employees face remained expressionless. He quickly reached for a shotgun that was on the table in front of him, and blindly fired in the direction of the door. Max was more than prepared and had ample time to jump sideways. The shotgun shell smashed into door sending sparks flying. Max, while in the air fired as many rounds as he could into the Aesir employee. Two bullets struck him in the base of the throat creating a spray of blood. Another hit him in the stomach causing a puddle of blood to stain his white business shirt and the last hit just above the jaw, dislodging and smashing teeth. Max quickly spun on his feet towards the gangster. He was desperately fumbling around the table for his weapon spouting more obscenities than most people do in a lifetime. Max pointed his berretta at him  
"I wouldn't if were you"  
"All right, all right, fuck, I surrender."  
"Tell may where the V is coming from and I might let you live,"  
"I don't bloody know where..."  
Max pressed his berretta against the gangsters head.  
"Are you sure about that."  
"You,,you cant just fucking shoot an unarmed man"  
"There a few people who said the exact same thing y'know. Care to meet them."  
Max pressed the gun harder against the head  
"but..but..you, how they fucking arrested you I saw the news. Oh, oh fuck you've escaped, that means they're on your tail, if you kill me."  
"They've got me for the murders of two DEA agents, the head of one of the worlds biggest multinationals and countless employees, not to mention the cops I whacked during my escape, do you really think I'm worried about what they'll think about some small time punk"  
The gangsters face twisted in terror  
"Ok, ok look, all I know is that they've got a warehouse, 88 Thor Street, thats where all the stuff, heavy shit there, tons of guards we don't ever go near there that's all I know please don't kill me"  
"On your back, now"  
The gangster was in far too much fear to do otherwise. He suddenly felt something heavy on his wrists. He almost immediately realised it was the all too familiar feeling of a pair of handcuffs.   
"Hey what the fuck?"  
Max casually pulled out his DEA ID and held it in front of the gangsters face.  
"You are under arrest for purchasing illicit substances with intent to supply, do you require your rights to be read?"  
Throughout the barrage of insults that followed Max gathered he heard a no. He pulled out his radio and called for someone to pick up the unfortunate gangster. His attention was suddenly taken a television in the corner of a room as an anchorman said  
"..Ms. Tracy Koil, the new CEO of Aesir has vowed to bring the company back to power and to clean it up. The company, whose stocks have fallen 80 percent after the attack against their headquarters, suffered another serious blow when it emerged, earlier this morning, that although acting independently from the company, Nicole Horne the previous CEO of Aesir was responsible for mass distribution of the drug known as Valkyr. Ms Horne died during the attack. In another news, Max Payne, the man who waged a one man war on crime has been released after it emerged that his seemingly far fetched story about having been a DEA agent has been declared true, and evidence has clearly indicated that he was either innocent or not accountable for all the crimes he alledgedly commited. In a seemingly unrelated incident..."  
Tracy Koil had preffered to keep out of the spotlight and as a result knew very little about her or her connection to V. The enigma continued to deepen around him. 


	3. Chapter 3

Authors Notice: Sorry I took so long to upload this chapter, the next one will be uploaded much sooner  
  
CHAPTER 3  
  
From the outside there seemed to be nothing spectacular about the old warehouse. It was a long rectangular shaped building with two layers of windows, not unlike all the others around this area of town. Max had looked gone through the files on the old place. It used to be Aesir's primary warehouse, until Aesir very publicly declared that they were abandoning the building due to a failed privately conducted safety check, The perfect method to keep attention away from it.From his observation of the plave, Max had come to the conclusion that Aesir had done a pretty good job for security. They had two gaurds dressed as homeless people standing outside the door. There were also two others one disguised as a street vendor waiting at the entrance to the alley where the door was the other, disguised as a hot dog salesman, stood further down the street. Max placed a silencer on his berretta and casually walked to the hot dog salesman gaurd.  
"One with everything to go please." he said  
"Sorry pal, just ran out of hotdogs, been a busy day y'know"  
"It's nine in the morning"  
The hot dog salesman began to twitch nervously  
"Yeah, heh heh, funny that isn't it, yeah you can never te.."  
While he was speaking Max quickly pulled out his silenced berretta and pointed at the salesmans head. The salesman began to react but thought against it at the site of the gun.  
"Look, all I got on me is couple of hundred bucks, the rest I..."  
"I don't want your money"  
"Uh..well then wha..?"  
"I want you to open the stand"  
"What?"  
"Well, your all sold out of hot dogs so I want to see the empty hot dog stand"  
"I..can't"  
Max moved the berretta closer to his head   
"Are you sure?"  
The sales man slowly moved the panel across to reveal two ingrams nestled together. He desperately reached for them, but didn't have nearly enough time. Three bullets left Max's gun and each found their mark in the salesmans face, spraying blood onto the graffitied wall he was standing near. Max was initially concerned that the street vendor gaurd noticed him but then noticed that he was looking the other way max pushed the stand towards him. As he heard the stand being wheeled towards him he slowly turned as he said  
"Hey what are you doing out of your station"  
As he finished turning, he found himself faced with two ingrams pointed at him. As he quickly reached into his jacket Max opened fire into his stomach with both guns. The sheer force and proximity caused the vendor two go flying through the air and into the corner between the the street and the alley before falling forward in a crumpled heap. The berretta he pulled from his jacket was fired aimlessly into the air. The gunfire alerted the two guards in the alley. One of the guards reacted before the other. He charged blindly at Max, firing an Ingram in the air. Max casually fired at hit. The bullets found their mark and the gaurd fell, almost slowly forward. Max quickly moved out of the alley, narrowly avoiding three bullets from the other gaurd stood with his back to the wall at a 90 degree angle from the alley. Apparently the second guard was smarter than the first, biding his time and waiting for a good shot. Max reloaded the Ingrams and spun into the alley. The gaurd who also wielded two ingrams dove towards Max firing. Max copied him by diving in his direction. Max flew under the stream of bullets. For one brief second Max sailed under him. It was in this second that he fired emptying two thirds of the clips from both ingrams. The bullets sailed into the guards stomach causing him to turn in the air and land on his back. Max walked up to him, reached into his jacket and pulled out a set of keys. This had been easy, too easy. It was odd that they would hire such imcompetant security. Max guessed that they thought no one would be smart enough to find out about it let alone stupid enough to attack it. Max walked to the door and unlocked it. As he slowly entered he found himself faced with four gaurds, each carrying Colt Commandoes and the smiling face of Johnny "Razor Chewer" Pine. During the Lupino era Johnny was in charge in delivering the stuff to Jack. It seemed that Aeris still considered his skills useful.  
"Hey Max, glad you join us"  
"Johnny hows the old?" Max asked sarcastically.  
"lets see, the Finitos brothers dead, Rico , dead, Vinnie well no one knows what you did to Vinnie but I'm guessing dead, Jack, dead, Mr Punchinello dead, they're all dead because of you Payne and now you'll be dead, fucking kill him."  
Max had dived to the side, behind some crates before Johnny had even finished the sentence. The barrage of bullets that were intended for him tore chunks out of the wall he was standing next to a secod ago.   
"We don't this guy in a gunfight just throw a grenade" screamed Johnny  
"But sir ther V"  
"Fuck the V just throw the grenade"   
Max heard the grenade, whistling through the air towards him. Instinctively he stood up and hit the grenade with the palm of his fist towards the gangsters. Apparently they had not been too wise with their choice of grenade. One of Johnnys men carelessly caught the grenade just before it blew up. The blast took out two of the gangsters and sent Johnny and the last remaining henchman flying into a stack of crates  
"Fuck, fuck, you fucking moron, you used set the fucking fuse to ten seconds"  
"Sorry boss, I.,."  
"Nevermind just get him."  
The guard walk towards the crates where Max was hidden  
"Come on out Payne"  
The gaurd fired at the crates destroying two. Max threw an empty clip to his side. This briefly distracted the guard allowing Max to sneak out from behind the crates and behind the henchman.  
"Eddie behind you" yelled jack.  
The gaurd turned, suddenly finding himseld forced backwards by four bullets. Max then fired at the injured Johnny, striking him in the leg. Max then walked over to him and put him in a headlock.   
"Ok Johnny, tell me who is supplying the V"  
"Someone in Aesir"  
"Who?"  
"I can't tell you or I'm a dead ma.."  
"Your a dead man anyway, but if I haul you in there is a decreased chance of being whacked"  
"Ok, ok, they person who is supplying the V is..."  
Max then felt blood being splattered against his face, Johnny had been shot in the neck. Max turned towards the door to get a glimpse of a retreating figure. Max attempted to persue the shooter but the sound of a car starting and driving off indicated the assassins escape.  
After filling in the necessary paperwork, Max returned to his appartment. The raid was considered to have been highly successful, but Max felt nothing but disappointment. His only source was dead and the new V was going to hit the streets in a big way. As he sat down to consider what to do the phone rang. He picked it up, on the other end was a well disguised voice.  
"Hello is this Max Payne"  
"Yes."  
"Do you want to destroy the new V"  
"Yes"  
"Excellent, I will phone you again today, this phone might be bugged"  
"Ok but one thing, who are you?"  
"Call me Loki" 


	4. Chapter 4

Authors note: I'm sorry I took so long to update, I'll be more frequent from now  
  
Max sat by his phone for what seemed like hours. His mind was filled with questions about his situation. Who was behind the new V?, To what extent was Aesir involved? and above all who was the mysterious Loki? The phone suddenly rang and Max nearly yanked it off the table.  
"Hello..." said Max  
"Hello Mr. Payne, this is Loki, as I said I have some information that is of considerable value to you."  
"First things first, who are you?"  
"Lets just say a person with a particular interest in bringing down the new V"  
"Woden is that you..."  
"The senator and I are not one and the same."  
"How do I know I can trust you?"  
"Yes, trust is important,judge my character on the use my information is to you, I do hope we can be allies in our mutual endeavor"  
Max at this point realised that Loki had no intention of revealing his or her identity.  
"Perhaps, what do you know about the new V?"  
"A lot of things, for a start, the Punchinello mob is out of the picture and even Aesir is practically insignificant, you are dealing with a much bigger enemy"  
"Who?"  
"Are you aware of a company known as "Freda""  
"Yeah, massive corporation, broke up into many smaller companies after heavy internal disputes between the shareholders, the smaller companies did very well, one of them even turned into Aesir."  
"The company Freda never broke up, the whole thing was to avoid a monopoly lawsuit."  
"So what you're saying is Freda are behind this..."  
"In essence, yes that is exactly what I'm saying. Now for some more immediately useful information. A seemingly small manager from Aesir, named Roger Door acted as a sort of liason between the company and Freda, he would normally be very difficult to track down however he has one useful weakness."  
"What?"  
"Everyday, around seven in the evening, he goes to small coffee house in the nieghbourhood he grew up in, called "Super Coffee". Call it nostalgia I guess."  
"Army of guards?"  
"Not as far as I know, of course the company might have him followed."  
"Thats the risks"  
"I will contact you again within the vext twenty four hours, to discuss the information you gathered, good luck."  
Loki rang off...  
Super Coffee was a small run down joint. It was almost empty except for the manager and a nervous looking man sitting dressed in a suit drinking a cup of coffee. Max guessed that was man he was looking for. Max walked to the table.  
"Good evening Mr. Door"  
"Hey what the...oh it's you, Mr. Payne"  
"You sound like you were expecting me."  
"Yeah well, I figured you might try and track me down it you figured out who I was and all."  
"Well if you were expecting me you'll know what I want you to tell me"  
"Yeah, Valkyr B, You know when, I joined Aesir just after it had formed it wasn't so bad,it was quite a good company, and the old boss was a nice guy. Then Freda came into the picture. They had done the initial funding for the abandoned V project, when they decided to continue manufacturing V, they decided to do it via Aesir. The old boss found out, he was going to the DEA but the day before, he as the report said, fell off an unstable pier. The Ms Horne of took over and she was a mental case. She forced me to act as a liason between her and the main company, told me that if I tried anything I might have an accident. She was one of the people originally involved with the original Valkyr project when the goverment was developing before it was axed."  
"Yeah, I found that out. I also know how she was resposible for distributing it"  
"While the Valkyr was taking it's effect R&D kept on going. A few months ago the came with a far more powerful version of Valkyr. They were planning on letting hit the streets in about a year but after what happened with Aesir, they decided that they had to pull out all guns. After Horne was dead I thought Freda would also go down but I was wrong. When I went to work, I got an e-mail telling me to meet with Freda executives. They told me would now be distributing the new version of Valkyr through five of the six subsidiary companies, well it is six now that Ms Koil has broken all ties between Aesir and Freda. They said that not all of the shareholders involved with Ms Horne had been caught and that they still had support withing the company. They said they were planning to dethrone Ms Koil by removing many of the shareholders that supported her."  
"Removing?"  
"Y'know, accidents, trumped up charges, things like that. They asked me to keep on working for them, Their execs tell what their plans were, which I would write down and leave in specific place, I would later pick up a folder from that place and present it to the execs. I told Ms Koil about this and she said that for my safety I should keep on working for them but to keep her informed of the situation."  
"Who are the execs?"  
"Dunno, they never told me, and they don't hold meetings in the same place either. The only thing I can give you is the name of a shareholder who is working for thim in Aesir, Charles Winters"   
"Thanks a lot, listen I don't want you to keep doing what you are doing and watch you back, I don't suppose you can arrange a meeting between me and Ms Koil."  
"I can try"  
"Good, here my mobile number is, wait a sec."  
Max reached in to his pocket took out his phone he checked his number and told Roger he then put the phone on the table. He then saw a man in an Aesir suit walking to the building.  
"There is one of the Aesir agents heading this way I will now threaten you, refuse to talk"  
"Good plan"  
Max drew his Berretta and jammed it against Roger's head  
"Hey whats going on?" yelled the manager of Super Coffee   
"Get out now" said Max.  
The manager charged out of the door pushing his way past the agent.  
"Are you going to tell me what I want now?" said Max  
"SCREW YOU PAYNE, I'M LOYAL TO AESIR" yelled Roger  
The man in the suit walked through the open door and pointed and ingram at Max.   
"Payne, let him go or I toast you." Max shoved Roger out of the way and dived to his side, the bullets from the ingram shattered the window behind him. Max fired at the Aesir agent. his bullets turning his white shirt a crimson red. As he did that he looked to see the room filling with agents there with agents. Max guessed they must have been waiting in the agents Max guessed that they must have been there to back the first agent up they waited behind because they weren't prepared for a shootout, Max thought he could use this to his advantage.  
"Drop it payne we have you totally outnumbered"  
Max dropped his Berretta and walked to the table where he had been sitting.   
One of the agents walked to Roger  
"Cought what you said throught Teds Walkie Talkie Roger, good job"  
"Thanks."  
"You'd better head out."  
Roger ran through the door.  
"As for you Payne, looks like you've finally lost."  
Max heard a brief sound on the desk, his mobile was vibrating. The agents didn't seem to notice. He turned his head down allowing him to see it. It was a text message saying  
"DUCK NOW"  
Max fell flat on his stomach narrowly avoiding a line of bullets. He then felt a rush of air above him, another line bullets. The bullets tore through the agents spraying blood and torn fabric in all directions. Max jumped to his feet. One agent had survived. he crawled around desperately for his ingram. He then felt it thrust into his hand  
"Looking for this."  
"Hey thanks man I...what the..."  
He turned to find himself face to face with his nemesis, Max Payne and a berretta aimed at his face. Max fired twice, one bullet struck him in the bridge of his nose, the other went straight through his neck.  
Max turned to the shattered window to see two black mercedes...Vladimir.  
Max walked towards them and one them pulled down a window.   
"Well Max, look like I saved you again this is getting repetitive."  
"I guess it must get pretty boring I mean you see one shootout an eatery, you've seen 'em"  
They both laughed  
"Hop in"  
Max entered the front seat of the Mercedes  
"So Vladimir, how did you know I'd be at the coffee shop"  
"A mutual friend tipped me off,"  
"Loki?"  
"Yes"  
"Who is he?"  
"I have no idea."  
"How do you know him?"  
"He warned me about an ambush by members of the Punchinello mob a few months ago, could have lost a lot of men, I didn't hear from him again till yesterday, when he told me that you might be in a fix."  
"Well thanks a lot for coming."  
"Max, we're friends, I wouldn't expect any less from you."  
"Of course not."  
"So Vladimir, I don't suppose you know much about the new Valkyr and whose behind it,"  
"Not much, all I know is that they are moving fast, they have so far killed fourteen of my men and we haven't been able to take one of them out, not counting our escapade at the coffee shop."  
"I heard that a company called Freda are somehow behind it."  
"Freda?" Yelled one of Vladimir's men from the back of the car."  
"Yes that's what he said," said Vladimir  
"My brother was in the DEA, he was once investigating them for being involved in drug trafficking, one day he and his partner both died in a car crash, at least thats what the inquest said, but they were both excellent drivers. We all suspect that Freda had them killed and paid off enough people to make it look like and accident"  
"Whatever happened to the investigation?" asked Max  
"It was suddenly cancelled for almost no reason, more well placed bribes, I guess."  
"Freda must be more powerful than I thought."  
"So Max what now?"  
"I'd better get home, I have little doubt that Freda will clear up the mess at the coffee shop. I need to wait for Loki to call."  
"Ok Max, remember if you need back up my men are at your disposal."  
"Thanks." 


End file.
